The Aardsma Weekly
September 30, 2007
Writer: Rachel Aardsma
Over The Hills And Far Away...
...to Arkansas! That's right. Remember that last week I mentioned a week's break from roof-work was in order? Well, on that break we packed up and headed across Illinois and Missouri, ending up just inside the border of Arkansas near the town of Berryville.
This wasn't some last-minute decision. In fact, we've been planning this vacation for the last year. We went with another family from California. The parents in that family have been friend's of Mom and Dad for years and years, but since they live so far away, we see them rarely. The family (who I will call the C's) has seven sons, and is always lots of fun to meet up with.
Both Beka and I kept journals of our trip to Arkansas and back. I kept mine with the idea of posting each of the entries in this article, as a way of giving you truly first-hand information about our trip. So, here we go. Clarifying information is inserted in brackets. The first entry is from September 17, a week before we left.
September 17, 2007
Just a quick note before I go to bed.
It's almost impossible to think that our vacation to Arkansas is only a week tomorrow! I guess the time is flying by because I'm, hoping we can finish the roof before we go, and I know we can't do that in 7 days! And opposite of those feelings, I can't wait! It's going to be great to have an entire 4 day vacation. Plus, I've never seen Arkansas before...or any place, really.
We've started the final planning now. Yesterday, I worked out a packing list.
Things have been stressful lately, what with the upcoming trip and all. Hopefully, things will calm down and we can relax on our vacation.
September 25th, 2007 8:08 a.m.
We're pulling out of the driveway. Excitement has run high all morning. I'm amazed that we're only a few minutes behind schedule! [We planned on leaving at 8:00.]
8:29 a.m.
We are on the highway, chugging along.
Yesterday I printed off some games from momsminivan.com, like car bingo and scavenger hunts. I just passed out a few Bingo sheets. Caleb won by finding a horse before anyone else did. That was fun.
Right now Dad's sleeping, Mom's driving, Caleb, Beka, and Timmy are listening to Walkman's, and Matthew is just sitting.
Ahead of us is a big car carrier. We're still in familiar territory, so I can't say that the scenery is anything amazing.
8:49 a.m.
We're actually moving out of familiar territory! Exciting! We just saw a lisence plate for Washington, and then another from Indiana. Can't wait till we leave Illinois!
8:55 a.m.
We just passed a strangely shaped white house that looked like an igloo! Neat!
8:57 a.m.
We just slowed down for construction. Hope it doesn't hold us up too badly. Now we're traveling through thick construction. We're on the Eisenhower Interstate System.
9:01 a.m.
Just saw the longest slide I've ever seen, and a barn in the middle of a lake! [The barn-like building was on stilts in a small lake with a walkway leading out to it. I think it was a restaurant or something similar.]
9:07 a.m.
We have completely passed everything I know. Everytone is pretty sleepy in the car.
Just passed out the first snack, which is good, because I'm starved!
Every few minutes I receive a series of violent jabs in the side, at which I turn to look at whatever has been spotted.
9:59 a.m.
Just stopped for the first time. It was great to stretch. Starved, but content! :)
10:15 a.m.
Starting to rain. I'm listening to 'Little Women' with Beka. Mom is sleeping and Matthew is driving.
11:54 a.m.
We are just leaving busy St. Louis. Stressful driving, but Matthew did great. We're finally in Missouri! We saw the famous St. Louis Arch. [While passing the Arch, we were unsure of it's name, so we called it the St. Louis Arch. On doing some research, I found it is more commonly known as the Gateway Arch, or simply, the Arch.] It was so neat! We were very close to it, and crossed the Mississippi River. We're going to stop for lunch soon.
The beautiful Gateway Arch. Mom snapped this photo as we drove over the Mississippi river. Photo by Mom.
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1:31 p.m.
Just got back in from lunch. It was very relaxing to finally stop being hungry!
We're off again now, and heading quickly for Arkansas. Beka and Mom are worried about being late, but not me! I'm really starting to enjoy this! :)
I'm sitting next to Matthew and Caleb now, while Mom drives and Timmy and Beka enjoy the middle seats. [The back seat in our car was not popular, since it is a bench seat, and notorious for making people carsick! However, the middle seats, which are single seats complete with reclining backs and a personal air vent, were in great demand during our trip.] We are listening to a tape of the singer John McNeil.
1:50 p.m.
We just passed a sign that had a large picture of 'The Beatles' on it. I said I thought the Beatles were dumb. Timmy replied calmly, "Well, they made it into the encyclopedia, anyway." I tried to explain to him that that was the least of their accomplishments, but I was laughing too hard.
2:27 p.m.
We're listening to Nana Maskouri now. Matthew and Caleb are adding bass and drums with annoying regularity! The rest of us are quiet most of the time, but we join in the choruses with gusto.
Beautiful country we're in now. Tons of green hills.
This is the Mississippi River as it appears in St. Louis. Photo by Mom.
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3:38 p.m.
Back on the road after a quick stop. Matthew's driving while Mom sleeps. Things are all quiet. I'm listening to a musical.
Hope my cat is doing fine on her own. I miss her a little, but I really have no time to think about her. She probably slept all day.
The land has flattened out quite a bit. Looks more like home now. If you can believe it, I'm feeling slightly homesick! We've been in this car all day, and I really wish I could go run around my own home. But we'll be back soon, probably much too early for anyone's satisfaction!
4:07 p.m.
The rain that has been threatening all day has arrived. It's really pelting. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow!
4:39 p.m.
We're in Branson, Missouri, which is only 2 or 3 hours from Shepherd's Inn Retreat! [The Shepherd's Inn Retreat Center was were we spent our vacation.] I'm REALLY getting excited! I can't wait!
We expect to get there between 7 and 8 o'clock, but I have a hard time believing we will be so long getting there. At least we won't be late. (I hope.)
The billboards are amazing here. There is one every 10 feet on each side of the road. The awful thing is that there is NO variety. They advertise the same things over and over and over and over...
4:50 p.m.
We just saw a beautiful rainbow! It was gorgeous!
5:02 p.m.
We just crossed the south end of Table Rock Lake. It was very neat.
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007, 9:11 a.m.
Here we are in Arkansas. We arrived at Shepherd's Inn at 6:00 yesterday. The C's had already arrived. It was great to see them again. We spent the night playing games and finally headed to bed late.
Beka and I shared a room and a bed last night. It was a lot of fun.
The C's little boy was sick this morning. We fear the flu!
Nice to settle down and seriously VACATION! Mom and Mrs. C are heading into town to get food soon.
The sign of the retreat center were we stayed. (Notice the beautiful mountains in the background. We got to look at that when we stepped out the front door of the house we stayed in.) Photo by Mom.
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10:17 p.m.
My, what a fun day! Despite the fact that I got a wonderful, large, swollen stone bruise on my heal, I really had fun today. We played ALL day. I keep looking around for work to do, but Mom wants us to have fun, and won't let us work.
Going to bed now, after several wild games of Uno.
Thursday, September 27th, 2007, 4:05 p.m.
Long day. Mom and Mrs. C are 'out on the town', enjoying a few hours of peace. I'm watching Joshua (3), James (6), Jacob (8), and Caleb and Timmy. Dad is snoozing and reading in the living room. Everyone else is spelunking in caves an hour or so from here. I'm a little bored, and slightly frustrated, trying to keep 5 little boys occupied. At the moment, everything is pretty peaceful, thanks to the helpful and cooperative spirit of one of the boys.
I need to go soon, but first I want to tell you about Cosmic Caverns. While the others went spelunking, the rest of us [Mrs. C, her three youngest boys, Dad, Mom, Timmy, Caleb, and I] went to Cosmic Caverns, which is 10 minutes from here. We went on a guided tour through a cavern. It was fun. On the way out I bought a marble heart for Beka and a beautiful rock necklace for myself.
Gotta go, I've a million demands from all sides!
One of the beautiful rock formations inside Cosmic Caverns. This was called 'The Frozen Milky Way'. Photo by Mom.
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And that was where my journal ended. I didn't have time to write anymore! The next day we went home, and as I was sick the whole way back, I didn't make any journal entries.
This is only the first part of this article series on our vacation. Next week, I'll give you lots more details, and lots and lots of pictures. But for now, this article is already way too long, so I'll say goodbye until next week!
The Weekly Bible Verse
Mark 4:39 and 41: And he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. ...They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Bits and Pieces
Since we've been gone all week I don't really have much to say in this area. However, there have been some serious changes here since we left. For example, all the fields around us are being harvested. When we left, the farmers had just started on the cornfield that surrounds our property. When we got back, the field was bare. I was sad that I didn't get to see the harvesting progress (and get some nice pictures) but I wouldn't have traded that for our trip, ever.
Our garden is really, really winding down for the year. We're having a hard time keeping up with the few orders we get now. Mom is daily considering shutting our stand down for the year. I'm ready...MORE than ready! When the stand is shut down, we get to clear out the garden, and then no more watering, no more garden work, no more nothin'. Well, that's not quite true. We still have the late-fall job of strawing the strawberries ahead of us.
A Word About The Weather
Since we weren't here, I can't tell you about Illinois weather? So, how about I tell you about Arkansas weather? It rained a little bit when we first got there, but after that it was clear and humid! We had a few very cold mornings, but by mid-afternoon the sun was always blazing!
A Word Of Wisdom
When traveling, there are four things essential to comfort: flat, straight roads, a warm blanket, good music, and lots of beef jerky.
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